


unbound

by sevedra



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), M/M, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Soul Bond, Soulmates, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 19:11:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14503629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevedra/pseuds/sevedra
Summary: Infinity War SpoilersSo, this movie killed the fuck out of me. Thanks Marvel.just a tiny WinterIron introspection





	unbound

**Author's Note:**

> INFINITY WAR SPOILERS

Throughout the fight, Bucky watched and waited for Tony to arrive.

T’Challa and Okoye had come to the farm and brought the new arm. He had known what it meant. Tony had already explained about the aliens through the portal over New York. He knew they were coming. T’Challa would have never asked Bucky to fight again for anything less. So, Bucky put on the arm and went to the front lines. He stood beside Steve. He ran with Natasha and the Dora Milaje. He faced his fears and fought like the world depended on him. Because he knew that it did.

The past two years, he had lived a peaceful life. Tony had come to Wakanda and the soul bond between them had ignited. Without the HYDRA programming in the way, Bucky’s mind healed enough to activate the connection with his mate. He’d thought he’d never find his soulmate. He’d thought he’d die in the war, and then he thought HYDRA had drug him far enough into the future that he would have outlived any possible match. Tony was a blessing. A gift. He returned to Wakanda frequently and learned to farm with Bucky. And upgraded everything he could find on the farm to make the farming “better”.

No one had mentioned Tony when Bucky had been brought to the city. He had asked Steve, but he’d just looked away and shook his head. Missing. Missing wasn’t an answer that Bucky could understand. If the world was at stake, if the aliens were here, then this was where Tony would be. And yet, he was nowhere to be seen. The bond between them was almost gone. So thin and weak that Bucky was afraid Tony was hurt, wherever he was. There was nothing he could do about that now though. So, he fought. He ran. He dodged. And he fought some more.

And at the end, he saw Thanos blink out of existence. He thought it was over. He hadn’t seen all of what had happened, but if the bad guy was gone…if the leader of the alien army was no longer here, then surely it was over. They were still alive. It should have been a relief. But Tony had still never shown.

Bucky stepped toward Steve. He had to ask again. He needed to know where Tony was. He needed to find Tony and make sure he was safe, too. He barely managed Steve’s name before the weightless feeling began. His entire body felt half it’s usual weight in an instant. Even his mind felt as though it were widening, the atoms moving away from each other. As he looked down at his body, he saw himself floating apart. Dust to ashes to nothingness. He never even felt the bond between them snap.

\----

Tony flinched when Thanos disappeared. No matter that he was out of range, he still expected another hit. For an instant, everything was still. Then, one by one, his companions drifted into the wind. He stared in disbelief. Strange, Mantis, Drax, and Star-Lord simply disintegrated and floated away. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, one by one. And finally, Peter. Brave, young, foolish Peter. Possibly the strongest of them all, bewildered and confused and gone. The dust of them blended with the dust of Titan. Tony breathed in the remains of his friends with each inhale. Breathed them back out into the dim light of dusk. And cried.

His soulmate was on Earth. He was trapped here on this alien planet. He had no idea how he would ever return home. Bucky was so far away his presence in the back of Tony’s consciousness was minuscule. The bond stretched so far and so thin as to be almost nonexistent. He couldn’t feel Bucky through the bond. He could only feel the slight warmth that signified their usual place in each other’s hearts. A small glowing ember, not anything like the normal fire of their bond.

They’d had so little time together what with the bond not pulsing to life until after Bucky had been through Shuri’s deprogramming. They’d fought against one another before then. They had nearly not had the chance to bond at all. Tony had decided to visit Wakanda for his meeting with T’Challa rather than asking T’Challa to New York. Bucky had only been in the city for that day to visit Shuri for a check-up. He spent his days on a farm. They shouldn’t have even crossed paths. Tony almost refused the handshake. The bond had flared between them unexpectedly. Now, it was all so distant.

Moments later, his heart lurched in his chest. He hadn’t realized his connection to Bucky was active enough to feel anything this far from home. Until now, when the thread that joined them started to unravel. He could feel each thread unspiral from the others like a rope fraying. Suddenly, the bond stretched and snapped. And he knew, whatever had happened here, on Titan, to the others, had also happened on Earth. Was probably still happening. A vast and immeasurable unmaking. Half of the universe. Half of all of creation. Half of Tony. Dust. Ash. Gone.

Bucky was gone.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Unbound (Expanded)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14733482) by [sevedra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevedra/pseuds/sevedra)




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